A conservative judge predicted President Donald Trump’s presidency will “cripple” if the Supreme Court rebukes him over a dispute over mass deportation flights.
Judge J. Michael Luttig wrote a scathing opinion piece for The New York Times about Trump’s latest attacks on the judicial system. Trump lashed out at District Judge James Boasberg last week after he ruled against Trump’s deportation plans that sent hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador despite the judge’s order to halt the flights.
Luttig suggested Trump’s threats against the judicial system could backfire on him.
“But unless Mr. Trump immediately turns an about-face and beats a fast retreat, not only will he plunge the nation deeper into constitutional crisis, which he appears fully willing to do, he will also find himself increasingly hobbled even before his already vanishing political honeymoon is over,” he wrote.
Luttig criticized Trump for calling Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator” for questioning whether the Trump administration was allowed to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan immigrants. He said the “the tectonic plates of the constitutional order shifted beneath Mr. Trump’s feet” after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked the president for calling for the impeachment of federal judges.
“No one wants murderers or other criminals to be allowed to stay in this country, but to rid the country of them the president first must follow the Constitution. Judge Boasberg doesn’t want to assume the role of president; the president wants to assume the role of judge,” Luttig wrote.
Luttig said that Trump “deludedly” believes he could win in a fight against the federal judiciary and warned that Trump could overstep his authority as president. He concluded by explaining that Trump’s presidency will “cripple” if the Supreme Court weighs in on his feud with Boasberg.
“If Mr. Trump continues to attempt to usurp the authority of the courts, the battle will be joined, and it will be up to the Supreme Court, Congress and the American people to step forward and say: Enough,” he wrote.
“If the president oversteps his authority in his dispute with Judge Boasberg, the Supreme Court will step in and assert its undisputed constitutional power ‘to say what the law is.’ A rebuke from the nation’s highest court in his wished-for war with the nation’s federal courts could well cripple Mr. Trump’s presidency and tarnish his legacy,” he added.
Luttig was appointed by President George H.W. Bush and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006.
Earlier Friday, the Justice Department informed the judge that top leaders in President Donald Trump’s administration are debating whether to invoke a “state secrets privilege” in response to the district judge’s questions about the deportation flights.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a court filing that there are “ongoing Cabinet-level discussions” about Boasberg’s demand for more information. Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to either provide more details about the flights or assert a claim that disclosing the information would harm “state secrets.”
The Republican administration has largely resisted the judge’s request, calling it an “unnecessary judicial fishing” expedition. Boasberg dismissed its response as “woefully insufficient,” increasing the possibility that he may hold administration officials in contempt of court.
The Trump administration has transferred hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador under the 18th century law. Flights were in the air last Saturday when Boasberg, orally from the bench, issued an order temporarily barring the deportations and ordered planes to return to the U.S.
The Justice Department has said that the judge’s oral directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed and that it couldn’t apply to flights that had already left the U.S.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stories by Lauren Sforza
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